To make the ornamental woolen sculptures I sketch from life and collect photographs of the animals that most interest me.The art of felting combines my passion for working with textiles and a love of making 3D forms, a sort of sculpting in wool.

Needle felting is a process where a find barbed needle is stabbed into raw wool repeatedly, gradually making the wool structure more and more dense. It takes many hours to produce these sculptures and each one is individual. Except for the small amount of metal in the standing animals, they are made of 100% wool.

Wool

Wool is a wonderful material to work with and its inherent warmth and texture is perfect for recording physical characteristics and facial expressions. The final touches are like painting with wisps of wool.

I use natural undyed wool from British breeds of sheep wherever possible. The Jacob sheep, for example, produces a dark brown and white humbug coloured yarn. The Herdwick has a course quality which, as well as being hardwearing, also has long fibres, making it perfect for whiskers. The Manx Loaghtan is a very rare old breed found in the Isle of Man which has a shorter strand of softer brown wool. Shetland wool is a good stout material to work with and comes in an assortment of colours. Other varieties include: the Blue Faced Leicester, the Dorset Horn, the Southdown, the Teeswater, the Wensleydale, and the rare mountain hill breed from the Pennines, the Whiteface Woodland to name but a few.